The initial NCAA Division II and Division III Regional Rankings will be released next week. Unfortunately, the initial rankings only list teams under consideration in alphabetical order.

However, thanks to rankings and projections from DII College Sports Communicators (CSC) and D3 Datacast, we can find teams that helped or hurt their national tournament or conference tournament hopes last weekend.

Stock Up:

Angelo State

The Rams returned home last weekend after suffering losses in all four games of their recent road trip. Ravaged by injuries, ASU needed positive results or risk missing the South Central Regional this season. The Rams earned two wins over the weekend, including a critical 69-64 victory over St. Edward’s. The good vibes are necessary for the Rams heading into a game at Eastern New Mexico on Thursday.

Texas A&M International

TAMIU entered last weekend outside of the Lone Star Conference tournament. However, the Dustdevils pulled within one game of eighth place UTPB and the final seed in the conference tournament with wins at home over ENMU and Western New Mexico. TAMIU owns the tiebreaker over UTPB and has matchups against St. Edward’s (7th), Midwestern State (t-9th), and Oklahoma Christian (t-9th) on its remaining schedule.

East Texas Baptist

The Tigers took a significant step toward securing a spot in the American Southwest Conference tournament with home wins over Mary Hardin-Baylor and Concordia. ETBU currently sits three games ahead of seventh-place Howard Payne with five games remaining in the regular season. However, the Tigers begin a three-game road trip this week before returning home for the final weekend of conference action.

Stock Down:

Midwestern State

The current LSC standings show the Mustangs in eighth place with nine games remaining in the regular season. The problem for MSU isn’t as much that they split the road trip last weekend, but who they lost to during the trip. The Mustangs' 62-61 defeat at Oklahoma Christian last Saturday gives the Eagles the advantage when tournament seeds are determined.

Mary Hardin-Baylor

The journey through East Texas last weekend wasn’t kind to the Crusaders, who suffered losses to East Texas Baptist and LeTourneau. UMHB holds a two-game lead over HPU in the loss column and can take a significant step toward securing a spot in the ASC tournament when they host the Yellow Jackets on Saturday. However, the Cru must overcome their rebounding woes after ETBU scored 16 second-chance points on 18 offensive rebounds last week.

St. Thomas

The Celts are a late addition to the Bubble Watch following a surprising 75-60 defeat to Centenary on Tuesday. UST’s hopes of earning a Pool C (at-large) bid to the NCAA Division III tournament have taken a significant hit, with the Celts losing two of their last three games. Winning the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament must be the focus for the Celts moving forward.